I would like to do preliminary sorting in Photo Mechanic primarily because of the speed increase in loading and viewing hi-rez RAW images.
Is it possible to export the actual "keeper" RAW files from Photo Mechanic and import them into the Lightroom Library without using a intermediate folder to store the PM exports?
It depends on what you mean. When you ingest photos using Photo Mechanic, they are already going into a folder on your computer. Then when you bring them into Lightroom, you may or may not be creating new copies depending what you choose in LR. Here is one possible flow that might work for what I think you're trying to do:
1: Use Photo Mechanic to Ingest from your memory card to a folder on your computer
2. Use Photo Mechanic to review that take and cull to find the keepers.
3. Delete the non-keepers with Photo Mechanic
4. Bring what's left (the keepers) into Lightroom - Here you have the option to "Move" or "Copy" them to a new location, or just "Add" them to the LR catalog right where they are. As long as you don't choose "copy" then you won't be getting duplicates.
Is this what you meant?
-Mick